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CHP eNews 11 December 2014: Last eNews for the year (list of Christmas Day meal services included)

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CHP eNews 2014

11 December 2014

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Victorian election 2014 In this the first eNews since the State election, it would be remiss of us not to mention the outcome. We extend our congratulations to the Victorian Labor party on its win. We also thank the Coalition for its work in the housing and homelessness space during its term. We had established a good working relationship with the former Minister for Housing, Wendy Lovell, and wish her well in her future endeavours. The ALP’s Richard Wynne, the former Shadow Minister for Housing, has moved to a new portfolio as the Minister for Planning, a position that we hope will enable him to influence affordable housing planning and policy. The newly appointed Minister for Housing Martin Foley ran the 2009 Rooming House Taskforce, which made a strong set of recommendations to improve housing conditions for our most vulnerable. We look forward to working with him in his new portfolio. We also congratulate the Greens candidates in the seats of Prahran and Melbourne for securing the first seats in the Lower House in Victorian history. The Victorian Greens were very supportive of CHP’s State election platform during the campaign period.

CHP Christmas opening hours CHP will be closed from 25 December and re-open on Monday 5 January 2015. Our sincerest thanks go to all in the sector for your ongoing support of CHP’s work. The amazing work that each and every one of you does to support Victoria’s most vulnerable people is so important, and does not go unnoticed. We wish everyone a safe and joyous festive period.

CHP’s CEO appointed as Chair of national homelessness body We are delighted to announce that CHP’s CEO, Jenny Smith, has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Council for Homeless Persons Australia (CHPA), a national group made up of representatives from the homelessness sector in every state and territory. Homelessness Australia (HA) is a federation of The National Youth Coalition for Housing (NYCH), Women’s Services Network (WESNET) and CHPA. Ian Gough (Manager Consumer Programs at CHP) is the Victorian member of NYCH and Julie Oberin, CEO of Annie North Women’s Refuge and Domestic Violence Service is the Chair of Wesnet. As Chair of CHPA, Jenny will now join Julie on the Executive of the Board of Directors of Homelessness Australia (HA), the peak national body for homelessness. Jenny is enthusiastic about the opportunity to be even more active in relation to homelessness policy at the national level.

Streetsmart Grants now open for 2015 Streetsmart’s next round of grants are open for applications, closing 17 December. This round will be distributed in late April, early May 2015. For information and application form go to: http://www.streetsmartaustralia.org/apply In August this year hundreds of Cafes and thousands of coffee drinkers came together to participate in CafeSmart 2014, together raising a record breaking $120,263 to fund local grassroots homeless projects. As a result 91 small community grants were awarded to help people who are homeless or at risk. CHP was awarded a $2,500 grant for a PESP digital inclusion program. The funding will go towards providing computers to current and future PESP members. The full list of 2014 grant recipients can be found here.

Lost Conversations – a free book about Australia’s black/white nexus Social Leadership Australia has released a free download of a book called Lost Conversations which explores the difficulties ‘black’ and ‘white’ Australia have in coming together – to talk, to work, to lead change. Lost Conversations is a new book which is the result of two year’s work by nine authors—five Aboriginal and four non-Indigenous (including two staff at Social Leadership Australia). Access the free download here.

Christmas Day meals services CHP has compiled a list of meal services that will operate on Christmas Day. It is far from exhaustive and we are adding to it daily, so please email Lanie if you have new ones to add. The list can be found on our website.

Human Rights Day The United Nation’s International Human Rights Day was held on 10 December. To mark this significant day the Human Rights Medal is awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of human rights in Australia. The medal has a rich history of prestigious winners. Congratulations to John Falzon from St Vincent de Paul who has been selected as a finalist for the medal.

School of Hard Knocks presents Christmas Spectacular Date: Saturday 13 December Time: 7.30pm More info on the School of Hard Knocks website.

Peer Education and Support Program (PESP) 2014 wrap-up The 2014 PESP team has had a busy and successful year. The team has participated in 52 consultations, 40 presentations, delivered 6 training sessions, facilitated 10 feedback activities, completed 16 media interviews, participated in 40 ongoing meeting and steering groups, sat on two interview panels, delivered six homelessness experience tours and provided 16 peer education and support activities. Feedback received by PESP members had been overwhelmingly positive and they have used the feedback to reflect on their work and continually improve. Ben McIlwaine recently graduated from the PESP team, after completing his two-year tenure and we would like to congratulate Ben on his achievements over this time. Ben has been a committed advocate and a valuable team member and we wish him every success in his future endeavours. CHP would like to thank the PESP team; Bill, Danny, Jacqui, Joal, Lisa and Mark, as well as the graduates, Allan, David, Erika, Giulia, Patrick, Peter and Vicky for all their fantastic work this year. We look forward to continuing this work with you next year.

Parity Call for contributions – February 2015: ‘Homelessness Outreach: Reach Out’ Homelessness outreach is an integral part of the specialist homelessness services system. This edition of Parity will explore the the role of outreach in homelessness service delivery and in a growing number of mainstream welfare service providers. Contributions of 800 – 1600 words are invited, with a deadline of Friday 13 February Contribution details can be found here.

Training Effective Documentation This one-day workshop will provide practical tips and guidelines for documentation of the care and support provided to consumers, families and carers. There will be a focus on clear documentation according to legislative requirements, organisational policy and procedures and sector best practice.Date: Thursday 12 February 2015Location: VICSERV, Elsternwick, Victoria. For more information and to register click here.

ConferencesAustralasian Housing Researchers Conference 2015Hosted by the AHURI Research Centre, the Australasian Housing Researchers is open to all researchers concerned with housing affordability and homelessness, housing policy and planning, housing economics, housing sustainability, and regional, national and international housing markets.Date: 18-20 February 2015Location:University of Tasmania, Hobart More info here.

National Housing Conference 2015Opening doors…Date: Wed 28 – Fri 30 Oct 2015 Location: Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth WA Website: www.nhc.edu.au Join us in Perth as AHURI convenes the ninth National Housing Conference in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Housing. Register now to take advantage of the special super saver registration fees!